The Germans are back! This Saturday, we finally continue the Bundesliga season, with five subs per match and matches all of the time in the hopes of actually being able to finish up this time.
Today, we'll be looking at Saturday's fixture between title contenders Borussia Dortmund and sith-placed Schalke 04. It's a Ruhr Revierderby - a classic, an intense match with thousands of roaring fans and a thriving Südtribune... well, at least normally. Sadly, given current circumstances, the stadium will of course be empty.
Still, we're expecting one blowout of a game. The home team in particular have every reason to go all-in, with those pesky Bavarians four points ahead in a thoroughly exciting title race.
They're everywhere!
They also have every player to go all-in. Erling Braut Håland, Jadon Sancho, Thorgan Hazard, Julian Brandt, and so on - no wonder, then, that Dortmund average over four goals per game, both directions, in the league this season!
The young anthem-blasting Norwegian especially has been just ridiculous, with nine goals in 512 minutes so far. His English friend is no less deadly - and Schalke aren't exactly a team with the fastest centre-backs in the world.
Coincidentally, Schalke has scored as many times as Dortmund have conceded - 33. This is frankly a pretty shite stat, but then again, they only managed 37 all season long last year. It used to look even better, but their form dipped severely before play stopped. If anything, I suspect they might be relieved to regroup and try something new.
Not that I'd expect them to do anything else. If there's one thing manager David Wagner excels at, it's trying things and regrouping. Is there even a formation Schalke haven't tried yet since he took over? Obviously, this is largely because Wagner likes to suit his team up based on their opponents - but it does yield some interesting drawbacks.
Odds worth tracking
Perhaps most notably, Schalke tend to confuse positions and make unforced errors in attack if they're too fast. They don't really play an offside-friendly offensive football, and they're fifth in the league in offsides. Meanwhile, some 30 kms away, Dortmund are quite good at forcing individual players offside. Looking at the over line for offsides might be lucrative.
Another line worth keeping in mind is the both teams to score one. It could well be argued that Dortmund's tendency to not concede at home is partly because of the home advantage. And with that advantage eroding without spectators, Schalke should stand to score more often than they would have otherwise - especially since Dortmund have several defensive players out.
Our Bundesliga odds page has everything you need in general, Borussia Dortmund v Schalke 04 head-to-head in particular.
If you're looking for just one game to watch this weekend, this might well be it. It has every chance of being the most entertaining one, at least!
